MetaChat - Gillian McKeith banned from calling herself a Dr

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18 February 2007

Gillian McKeith banned from calling herself a Dr I don't know if Gillian McKeith's
health regime malarkey has escaped from the UK; if not, you can thank your lucky stars.→[More:]

Instead of writing a whole diatribe about her, I'm going to be lazy and link to Wikipedia. So there. The main link goes to a looooooong article, so make a brew, settle down and enjoy.

post by: TheDonF at: 14:39 | 18 comments

god, the ubiquity of people in positions of power and/or influence who don't have the tiniest clue about the most basic principles of science is really depressing, isn't it?

on the plus side, I am always made happy by the use of the word "malarkey."

posted by scody 18 February | 14:50

Also, this sentence from the wikipedia article is awesome:

Regarding McKeith's membership of the American Association of Nutritional Consultants, Goldacre writes that he purchased a "certified professional membership" from the same institution for $60 on behalf of his late cat, Henrietta.

posted by scody 18 February | 14:52

Awesome article TheDonF : You should post it to the metafilter.

posted by seanyboy 18 February | 14:58

Mmmm, I haven't posted anything there for ages. Could be a plan...

posted by TheDonF 18 February | 15:00

god, the ubiquity of people in positions of power and/or influence who don't have the tiniest clue about the most basic principles of science is really depressing, isn't it?

Amen, scody. Buncha predators, really.

posted by hojoki 18 February | 15:00

What depresses me isn't the snake oil salesmen, it's the ignorance and cynicism of a media that helps to propagate this nonsense.

posted by seanyboy 18 February | 15:07

Annnnnnd posted. Thanks for "snake oil" - I used it as a tag.

posted by TheDonF 18 February | 15:25

≡ Click to see image ≡

posted by essexjan 18 February | 15:41

"because methane fart gas mixed with oxygen is a potentially explosive combination."

Now THAT is a scientific fact!

posted by mischief 18 February | 15:59

I enjoyed this b3ta take on the story.

posted by chrismear 18 February | 16:47

I'm behind on my b3ta this week; I've not even opened the mail, which I almost always do as soon as it turns up just to check out the question of the week.

posted by TheDonF 18 February | 16:58

If you ask me, it's about time Ann Coulter was run out of the country.

posted by stilicho 18 February | 17:01

Next time Goshling is in IRC, I'll see if there's any space in Australia for the two of them.

posted by TheDonF 18 February | 17:11

She talks endlessly about chlorophyll, for example: how it’s “high in oxygen” and will “oxygenate your blood” - but chlorophyll will only make oxygen in the presence of light. It’s dark in your intestines, and even if you stuck a searchlight up your bum to prove a point, you probably wouldn’t absorb much oxygen in there, because you don’t have gills in your gut.

This one made me laugh like an imbecile.

No, the Awful Poo Lady -- now there's a sockpuppet name if I've ever heard one -- doesn't appear to have much of a following on this side of the pond. But you need not worry; we're very well supplied with charlatans and quacks.

posted by jason's_planet 18 February | 18:32

Oh, actually, I have seen her! We used to carry ads for the Horny Goat Weed in the magazine I worked for, and she was there shilling (in a small picture, below the langorously reclining woman who would have sex with you if you'd only take some pills, Johnny). We cut out the ad and put it over our designer's chair to haunt him.

posted by klangklangston 18 February | 19:02

She's not even a good example of healthy living - she's scrawny, drawn out and needs to put on some weight.

posted by TheDonF 18 February | 19:17

Oh, god, I remember her from "You Are What You Eat" I mean, I know shit about medicine, but she just struck me as completely ignorant. All that crap about how people are sick because they have gas. A two-year-old knows that if you eat the kind of diet the people on that show do, you are going to get gas.

posted by dg 18 February | 19:32

We used to carry ads for the Horny Goat Weed in the magazine I worked for

Me too! I don't remember her, though. But I do remember the horny goat weed.

posted by jrossi4r 18 February | 19:50

← We'll strip you of any economic opportunities, || a nice bit of commercial choreography →

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